PHOENIX – A Phoenix man has pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges stemming from a wrong-way freeway crash that killed a Fire Department dispatcher heading home from work.

Stephen B. Martin was arraigned Thursday in Maricopa County Superior Court on charges of second-degree murder, endangerment, and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Police have said the 39-year-old Martin told officers and hospital personnel after the crash early Jan. 27 that he knew he was drunk and shouldn't have been driving but that he had to get his girlfriend because she was being sexually assaulted.

Authorities haven't released information on Martin's statement about his girlfriend.

Megan Lange, a 26-year-old married mother of two, was fatally injured when her small SUV crashed head-on with a Martin's large SUV on Interstate 17.